Bleach 451 – The Blade and I

A lot of people have pointed out the reconning that was done for this arc, and I don’t think anybody seriously believes Kubo planned this out ten years ago from the very beginnings of the series. That said, I think it was done relatively well enough to seem plausible, and I don’t find it to be a huge distraction. It was written so that a lot of things lined up and there are no glaring inconsistencies, but at the same time there was no foreshadowing of this twist at all before this arc and Zangetsu was treated as the real zanpakutou all along, including all of the times he has trained and gone into his inner world, such as for his bankai and final Getsuga Tenshou. The only real explanation I can see for this is simply that he was a damn good imposter.

As Ichigo confronts him, he explains that he is actually a manifestation of Ichigo’s quincy powers (hence the resemblance to Yhwach), and that he’s been suppressing Ichigo’s shinigami powers in an attempt to save him from Yhwach himself. Ichigo’s inner hollow has been responsible for saving him a couple times too, and contributes to a good portion of his power. In an unfortunately quick turn of events quincy Zangetsu decides that it is time to say goodbye as he dissolves into a sword in the shape of a flaming cross. Whatever his new zanpakutou is going to look like, I’m quite excited at seeing what new abilities he will have, as he is implied to be much, much stronger now without the restraints on his powers. Just as I was wondering about how Ichigo could possibly get stronger after all the power-ups he’s received before, Kubo manages to outdo himself yet again. However, I am a bit sad to see the old man go, especially after he shed a single tear at the very end. It’s not clear what all this means for Ichigo’s quincy abilities, but it is possible that he will remain with Ichigo in some other form.

It is not likely that it derived from Ichigo’s quincy blood since Isshin’s Engetsu can do the same.

On the side note, will Ichigo lose his quincy powers? I would like him to keep them since it seems to be a nice keepsake from his mother. Though it can be doubtful since Juha Bach did expected Ichigo to keep them.

Well I hope we will see the Real Zangetsu, both blade and person, next chapter. Though I am curious if Shirosaki was the real Zangetsu. To be frank, I would like the new Zangetsu to be a woman but since we saw Asuichi then the chances of that are low.

It’s probably like a lot of things writers do. They have an idea about where the plot will go but it goes through iterations during the process and details may change.

I know that Kubo said he knew Isshin was a Shinigami from the pilot episode and that Hirako’s face actually showed up in the first chapter’s cover. Also remember after the fight with Grand Fisher you saw Iceringer and Deeroy talking about removing GF’s mask. Or that Ichigo has manifested those spirit threads several times.

Kubo has had a lot of details floating around for a while. Whether or not he throws them into the air to flesh out for later or actually writes with a clear intent for the narratives future . . well that’s the mystery there. I do think his short term pacing and writing is rough enough that his actual plans may come across as ass pulls. He has said consistency isn’t one of his major strengths.

With enough patience you will be able to find rudiments to every potential story that unfolds with the time. Ultimately, it doesn’t even really matter where the story goes. What’s important is how long will the trip take. The longer, the better from Kubo’s point of view.

That doesn’t look like set-up to me. I mean, every Soul Reaper’s had a problem hearing their Zanpakuto’s name when first meeting them (Hitsugaya for example) and it’s fair to say that all the Vizard have inner Hollows too.

When you said ” every Soul Reaper” do you mean every soul reaper or just those two (Ichigo and Hitsugaya), because every Soul Reaper experience should not be judged to be the same as theirs without further information. And Ichigo is special. He is a human born with Soul Reaper, Quincy, and Hollow in his DNA. His Quincy power suppress his hollow-powered zanpakuto to make sure he doesn’t become a real Soul Reaper. The Vizards were once real Soul Reapers with real zanpakuto before they were mutated (by Aizen) to have inner Hollows, but no inner Quincys.

With the proof above you, YOU’RE GOING TO TELL US THAT ZANGESTU IS JUHA BACH IS RANDOM!

Considering that the Zanpakuto process requires you to learn their name first, it’s confirmed that every single Soul Reaper has to go through that, including the ones that would become Visoreds, meaning they each have inner Zanpakuto AND Inner Hollows, like Ichigo. It’s more than likely that every single other Visored has this same exact situation going on in their heads.

The next pic is the “using the spirits in the air to float” thing. EVERY Soul Reaper uses that, as well as Arrancars. They used it all throughout the Fake Karakura fight. There’s nothing special about it.

Then there’s Hollow-Ichigo acting like his sword and having a replica of it. Well, of course he would because, like Zangetsu, he is a part of Ichigo.

Next thing, Kisuke and Tesai being concerned about the Hollow Mask. It’s because he’s another Vizored and they don’t exactly want another one of those floating around. Has nothing to do with Quincies whatsoever.

“Ability to stop your wound from bleeding”? Why WOULDN’T the source of your spiritual power be able to stop that? Not that it actually works, seeing as this is a shonen manga, and characters have 1000x the amount of blood the normal human body does.

Zangetsu absorbing Hollow-Ichigo? They’re the same entity, of course they’d be able to absorb each other.

And of course Ichigo is “special”, he’s the main character. The main character in a shonen manga almost always gets a bunch of arbitrary power ups before the story finishes.

So yes, with the “proof” (aka conjecture) above, I will say that this twist is random as all hell.

The Hitsugaya bonus chapter has pretty much been invalidated as any kind of canon now though. Zanpaktou are born from asauchi, this is now the canon explaination (otherwise Ichigo’s zanpaktou wouldn’t be the hollow). So Hitsugaya wouldn’t be able to hear his sword before he got his sword.

I have a friend who has been editing at Bleach wikia for quite a lot years and when I questioned whether Kubo has planned this all along, he said that Kubo himself had stated that he never planned far ahead, he basically writes as he goes… So yeah.

DOES IT FUCKING MATTER if Kubo had this planned from the start or not?

We get the privilege of reading a chapter of a story every week or so. Imagine if he wrote one giant book manga, then no one would question if everything is well intertwined form the very start. Look at Harry potter, is it plausible even the slightest that HP being the last hucrox or whatever was a product of extensive trials and errors to see what fitted best with the story so far.

All and all, are we forgetting that its a good enough story to care about, and we should enjoy it as it is. And not questions the artist’s methods of getting from point A to point B, we got there. we ARE there. Enjoy it. the past is PAST.

From the beginning he has always help Ichigo with his battles & yes not once did Ichigo lead astray by him! I think he is like a guardian Ichigo looking out him & an adviser in a way. Sad that he had to go but he new he has to I think if he stick around Ichigo might some conflict so he did for he sake though it would have been nice to know his real name…

I liked it. We now know that every time Ichigo makes that face, his inner world is crumbling to dust.

Now that the series is drawing to a close, it’s time to finally drop the baggage Ichigo’s been saddled with as the plot demands. We’re going to see Ichigo with a consistent power level, and that’s exactly how the series should end.

If Ichigo’s power as a shinigami was suppressed all this time, wonder what does it say to his potential? Also, wonder what the people who Ichigo has defeated will feel if they were defeated with Ichigo’s shinigami powers was suppressed all this time…..

I can’t wait to see the new zanpakuto and outfit. It also begs the question of what his “bankai” actually was and it explains why it couldn’t be stolen. Really hope it stays a sword though. Bows are cool, but I just can’t see Ichigo using one(especially when his main oponent uses a sword. Need them clash shots lol)

I swear if they go to someone else next chapter before showing the Zanpakuto I am going to be so pissed.

I think it could not be stolen because inner Juha Bach was holding to it. Another possibility is that they can’t steal hollow-based bankai. I think nobody has tried to steal a Vizard’s bankai, though I don’t know how the stealing process goes. Still a secret.

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Sad to see Zangetsu go, he’s been a cool character over the years. I personally hope that the flaming outline we saw in this chapter isn’t what Ichigo’s new sword looks like. To me it just seems to be a little stereotypical for a sword design and doesn’t look like a great deal of though went into it, but hey, I’ll just have to wait and see what the final product is.

As for new abilities, I think we can guess what to expect from a white sword:

Here’s hoping Kubo is a tad more original this time. Ichigo’s ability is to store up power and release it, but there are other things he could do with it instead of firing useless Getsuga’s all over the place. Can’t wait to see the results next chapter!

Well we saw a glimpse of Ichigos real power, when he slain Mendos Grande, with (how was the name of the Quincy friend?) aside, and he used to much Power, that his Sword began to melt or something. So the Quincy Boy saved him while he used his Raw Power to fire very Big Arrows into the Sky, to bring down his raging Power. Since this Point on, i know Ichigo throttle was never full opened again

Regarding Juha Bach I´ve been thinking this for a while, since he´s the origin of all quincys and his blood is inside every single one of his “sons”, doesn´t that mean that if the Quincy King dies all of his sons would loose their powers?.

I guess in the Zanpakto rebellion filler arc Muramasa didn’t know he could pull out “Zangetsu” who wasn’t his inner sword. Well that’s a filler arc so yeah…But the Bankai Doll that Urahara made in order for Ichigo to achieve his Bankai in 3 days…yeah that’s just odd.

Don’t know if anyone has already suggested this theory or not, but I’m gonna throw it out there anyway… I have a strange feeling that Yachiru (little pink-haired girl always riding on his back) has been Zaraki’s zanpakto the whole time, and he just didn’t know it. I mean, what do we really know about her other than that he found her alone in the forest, and her name isn’t even really Yachiru, Zaraki named her that…